One morning on his recent trip to China, UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., casually read the China Daily — the nation’s largest English language paper — and happened on a story headlined, “Top schools recruiting best brains.”
The story discussed how the world’s top schools recruited China’s best and brightest and listed institutions one might expect such as Cambridge and Oxford. But one school jumped off the page.
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UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., front row second from right, at Shandong University School of Medicine’s 100th anniversary celebration. Dr. Maurer spoke to a stadium audience of 4,000 people at the event. Also pictured are Dr. Maurer’s wife, Beverly, first row second from left, and UNMC’s Jialin Zheng, M.D., second row, third from left. |
Further validation of UNMC’s status in China came when Dr. Maurer was asked to address a stadium full of 4,000 people at the Shandong University School of Medicine’s 100th Anniversary Celebration.
“I was asked to speak on behalf of academic leaders from throughout the world,” Dr. Maurer said. “It’s become apparent we are held in high esteem in China.”
UNMC a trusted resource in China
“The institutional leaders I meet say they work with UNMC because we get things done,” Dr. Maurer said. “They haven’t had the same experience with other U.S. institutions.”
One area where UNMC has been busy in China is family medicine.
UNMC — a U.S. leader in primary care — has worked for more than three years with medical faculty first in Xi’an, China, and now Shanghai to develop family medicine models.
Bringing family medicine to China
Only with the recent onset of China’s health care reform did the country adopt family medicine. Previously, Chinese health care was specialist-based.
“In a very real sense, UNMC is helping bring family medicine to China,” Dr. Maurer said.
Research in motion
UNMC, Dr. Maurer said, also has made strides in Chinese research collaborations in fields such as:
- Lymphoma;
- Pancreatic cancer; and
- Infectious diseases.
Sharing our best
In education, Dr. Maurer said work from this recent trip will start, continue and expand partnerships that let UNMC and leading Chinese institutions exchange top faculty and students.
“While the world has gotten smaller, China’s role in it has grown,” Dr. Maurer said. “Every area of our mission at UNMC benefits from having close relationships with Chinese institutions.
“We’ve been fortunate and diligent in our work to build relationships with counterparts in China. These relationships will have lasting and positive effects on UNMC and our partners in China.”